Since its inception in 1995, the Java™ programming language has become increasingly popular. (Java™ is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.) Java, which is an interpreted language, enabled the creation of applications that could be run on a wide variety of platforms. This ability to function across a variety of different client platforms, i.e., platform independence, and Java's relatively easy implementation of network applications has resulted in the use of Java, as well as other programming languages that provide platform independence, in endeavors as basic as personal web pages to endeavors as complex as large business-to-business enterprise systems.
However, since applications, as well as the Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) to which the applications connect, may be provided by many different vendors, a mechanism that enables these disparate computational entities to communicate with one another was needed. The Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) is a specification that addresses such needs.
J2EE Connector Architecture provides a mechanism for integrating J2EE-compliant application servers with enterprise information systems. The J2EE Connector Architecture defines a Common Client Interface (CCI) for EIS access. The CCI defines a client API that enables clients to interact with heterogeneous enterprise information systems. Application servers, i.e., servers onto which applications may be deployed, and Enterprise Information Systems need only follow a J2EE Connector Architecture specification in order to interconnect with one another.
Unfortunately, the J2EE specification does not resolve all interconnection issues. For example, one area of concern is detecting and remedying incomplete transactions that can occur in the event of a server crash or other unforeseen interruption. Transactional applications often employ various approaches attempting at coordinating the processing for a transaction. Such conventional approaches, however, can fail to detect the presence of an incomplete transaction for a period of time. Additionally, since such conventional approaches may create unneeded connections during the process of checking for an incomplete transaction.
What is needed is an improved mechanism for recovering from an incomplete transaction.